How to Design a Web Game in 48 Hours:

Step 1: Join more than 88,000 teams to compete for the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup. (This year’s challenge: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”)

Step 2: Choose a technology category and an area of interest. “We decided to make a web game on maternal healthcare using HTML5,” says Jeffers.

Step 3: Learn HTML5. Microsoft representative Andrew Parsons was impressed by their performance in the regionals at RIT, since most other teams already knew the program. “The fact that they eventually won the competition showed how good they were at embracing new technology,” he says.

Step 4: Spend two days creating an Asteroids-like video game called Embryonic to win the regionals and get the chance to participate in the finals in New York City. Though the team didn’t take home the Imagine Cup, they were one of just 124 teams to present their projects at the worldwide finals, and the only U.S. team in the game design (web) category.